Etymograph

English

phlegm

Phlegm comes from Middle English flewme ‘Phlegm as one of the four cardinal humours…’, from Ancient Greek φλέγμα ‘flame, fire, heat’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blaze, burn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-1‘to blaze, burn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰlegō1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφλέγω2‘to set on fire, inflame’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφλέγμα3‘flame, fire, heat’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEphlegma3
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fleume4
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flewme4‘Phlegm as one of the four cardinal humours believed to influence health and mood’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1812phlegm4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φλέγω
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φλέγμα
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old French fleume
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English phlegm
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy: “The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φλέγω‘to blaze, burn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰlegōWiktionary, Ancient Greek φλέγωreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφλέγωWiktionary, Ancient Greek φλέγμα‘to set on fire, inflame’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφλέγμαWiktionary, Old French fleume‘flame, fire, heat’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEphlegmaWiktionary, Old French fleume
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fleumeWiktionary, English phlegm
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flewmeWiktionary, English phlegm‘Phlegm as one of the four cardinal humours believed to influence health and mood’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1812phlegmWiktionary, English phlegm. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy: “The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to…”

The story

Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots. The regularly developed form /fliːm/ has been displaced by a pronunciation /flɛm/ of uncertain provenance.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. It may be inherited, though some kind of learned or spelling pronunciation or influence from phlegmatic is also conceivable.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blaze, burn’

ball, bowl, bell, bull, bold, flame, bald, boil, blaze, blush, blur, blizzard, bale, bolster, bleach, budge, sabha, bola, blemish, blithe, blain, phallus, bolero, bleat, 72 more

through Ancient Greek φλέγω ‘to set on fire, inflame’

phlox, 7 more

Today it means

noun One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “phlegm”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek φλέγω, Ancient Greek φλέγμα, Old French fleume. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- / phlegm

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